


The World Was In Darkness

by WickedSong



Category: Final Fantasy VIII
Genre: F/M, Fluff, shameless fluff
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-01-15
Updated: 2018-01-15
Packaged: 2019-03-05 09:33:54
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,362
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13385031
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/WickedSong/pseuds/WickedSong
Summary: ...and now there was light.Squall and Rinoa in the aftermath of Time Compression.





	The World Was In Darkness

**Author's Note:**

> -Well, my annual replay of FFVIII has already been and gone for 2018 (I started New Year's Day right), and God, I'll never get over how much I love everything about this damn game, that ending and these two idiots in this fic here.
> 
> -Seriously, they are The Original OTP™ and I will be ride and die for them until the end of my days.
> 
> -So here's a take on the flower field reunion because, why the heck not? I love them too much.

The world was in darkness.

She kneeled on a bleak and barren plain, at what she believed had to be the end of days, cradling the man who had risked everything just to protect her.

He wasn’t moving. Was she too late?

“Squall?”

Gently, she called his name, but there was no sign that he heard her. No sign of anything at all.

Rinoa swallowed down the urge to cry, as she ran her hand through his hair. After everything, after all the fighting, it was finally over.

But she refused to believe that this was the end. It couldn’t be.

Again, she called his name.

And once more, there was nothing but silence and her heart was now heavy with the knowledge of what that meant.

He had ventured to space and beyond, all to save her, and yet she was too late to do the same for him; to be there when _he_ needed _her_ the most.

The guilt and the loss bubbled up, and all of a sudden, the dam behind her eyes burst. Burying her face in his collar, she sobbed his name; a bawled prayer to deities she wasn’t even sure she believed in, but would if only-

If only they’d bring him back to her.

All of a sudden, there was a great burst of light, covering the entirety of this lifeless place. This dark void, endless and confusing, the brink of Time Compression, opened up.

Great gusts of wind whipped flower petals, and Rinoa lifted her head, unable to continue to ignore the light that shone around her. Light that passed from one edge of the plain to the other, that stretched even beyond it now.

Gone was the darkness, and Rinoa was acutely aware of exactly where she’d ended up. Her heart sunk to her stomach.

Because despite the bright and familiar scene that surrounded her, it didn’t matter. It didn’t matter that somehow they had ended up here, because-

“…”

At first, she thought she was imagining it; that recognisable grunt. She believed that the faint stirring she felt in her arms, was just wishful thinking.

Until she looked down at Squall.

It couldn’t be and yet it was.

“W-where-?”

Squall wasn’t able to finish his thought, much less his word, before Rinoa had thrown her arms around him, and they both fell onto the flowers. She was crying into his collar again, but this time they were undeniably tears of joy.

She didn’t know what magic had brought him back to her, whether it was Gods or destiny or even her own power as a Sorceress.

And in this moment, frankly, she didn’t care.

“I thought-I thought…”

She was unable to say much more than that through her tears, but judging by the way Squall held onto her tighter, he appeared to understand.

Rinoa pulled away, eventually, after a long minute of silence, tears still in her eyes, as she just took him in. Only moments ago, she'd thought he was lost forever, and now - now he was here and alive and their future was theirs again.

In the course of their embrace, he had pulled himself into a more upright position, and now he was staring straight at her. She noticed that even though they had pulled away, he still had a hold of her hand.

“This is real,” she assured him, taking both their hands and placing them on his heart. “That’s real, and it’s beating. It’s finally over.”

Maybe that was too optimistic. Reality had almost been torn apart, the world had been on the brink of yet another war. Maybe nothing could be truly over. 

But there was peace in this meadow of flowers. There was quiet.

And Squall was here too.

That was all Rinoa could ask for now. Eventually, they would have to move, to find everyone else, and sort through the aftermath of their battle, but for now, this moment was enough.

The silence was only interrupted by the winds that still gently swayed around them. Rinoa looked up as the flower petals danced around them, and she grinned, smiling back at Squall. She noted that he hadn't taken his eyes off of her. He was also still holding her hand. Not that she wanted him to let go of it anyway.

"Our promise," she said, quietly. She brought her free hand to the rings around her neck. "I knew you'd keep it."

The happiness of being here with him, in the here and now, vastly eclipsed the worry and fear and sadness when she couldn't find him earlier.

He smiled, and Rinoa began to move closer to him. He responded, leaning closer in to meet her and to close the gap between them. After multiple near-death experiences, it was finally the perfect moment-

"Guys! Hey!" 

Rinoa chuckled a little, at how quickly Squall sprang back, and at how red in the face he went.

Zell was the _last_ person Squall would want to see this.

"Well, well, what do we have here?"

Maybe that was actually Irvine.

"I hope we're not _interrupting_ anything?"

Make that Selphie.

If the look on Squall's face was any indication, it was _definitely_ Selphie.

Quistis smirked beside Zell, knowing it to be wise to remain silent instead of saying anything to their fearless leader.

But despite the look on Squall's face, Rinoa could see his happiness too. It was the same look he'd worn what felt like ages ago, when half the team had returned from their mission at the Missile Base.

He had tried to act cool then, tried not to give too much away, but it was as written on his face now as it had been then. She was so glad to see that now he didn't try and hide it.

The pair stood, and embraced their comrades, Zell and Selphie alternating at filling them in on the specifics of what had happened following their battle with Ultimecia, with Quistis and Irvine jumping in at points to go over the finer, more technical details that their more over-zealous friends would leave out in the rush of the moment.

"Laguna's on the Ragnarok, with Ellone. Said he'll drop us back at the Garden," Zell explained. He punched his fists together. "I can't wait to see everyone again!"

At the mention of Laguna, Selphie was already sprinting across the flower field, shouting that the last one there was a rotten chocobo egg; a challenge Zell seemed to take to heart as he chased after her. 

Irvine laughed, following the pair.

Quistis chuckled, as she looked down, and began to walk back the way she'd came. She turned to Squall and Rinoa, who still stood hand-in-hand. She smiled.

"I guess some things will never change," she said, happily, and with a wistful note in her voice. "See you guys on board."

As she went off into the distance, Rinoa felt Squall let go of her hand, and walk a little way ahead of her, clearly still lost in thought.

"Are you okay?" she asked quietly, nervously looking down at her boots, while clasping her hands behind her back.

Squall, also looking down at the flowers in the ground, nodded.

"I think, for the first time in a long time, I am," he answered, quietly. He turned around, and held out his hand to her, a slight smile breaking on his face. "I know I'm not alone anymore. Thank you, Rinoa"

Rinoa smiled, and took his hand, surprised but happy when he pulled her in closer for another embrace. 

Before, she would have been happy for their moments to be frozen in time. Like when they'd been stuck in space, waiting to come back to Earth. All she'd wanted then was for time to stand still. 

But she'd been scared then. Scared of being alone, scared of being hated. 

Now with the promise of a future, even a slightly uncertain one for a Sorceress and her SeeD Commander of a Knight, she was happy to face it.

In his arms, it didn't appear to be such a scary prospect anymore.

The world had been in darkness, and now there was light.

**Author's Note:**

> -Since I was really young and watched my brother finish FFVIII for the first time I've wanted to write my own take on the reunion in the flower field. It's really fluffy, and everything my single-digits self would have wanted if it was something we had seen in the actual ending. People have probably done this before (heck, I've probably read the fics about it before), but I thought I would post my own go.
> 
> -Maybe I'll write more FFVIII fic, maybe I'll wait almost another year to post anything at all, that's confidence for ya! Nevertheless, hope you guys enjoyed this! :)


End file.
